As the world around us continues to shift, it is increasingly clear that our roles and activities as educators are also forever changed. Since we re-entered our classrooms this year, we’ve gained experience and understanding of just how different things are now. In fact, some of the strategies and techniques we prioritized before the pandemic aren’t as well suited now. As we realize that re-establishing our practices might not be as straightforward as we’d hoped, we may be finding it necessary to re-evaluate our tools and strategies, and even redefine some core elements of our teaching and learning philosophies and practices. Inspired by recent publications from educators like you, this blog series will explore topics reflecting these ongoing paradigm shifts in our modern classroom. Through these “Candid Conversations,” we’ll examine current pedagogical priorities as we wrestle with upholding the standards and strategies of the past.
Moving on From Remote Instruction to Online Learning, and Beyond.
Prior to 2020, much of our instructional experience focused on “classroom” or “face to face” modalities. Instructors with substantial online teaching and learning expertise were generally outnumbered by those without it. Paradigm shifts precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic have since forced our instructional time, attention, and practices to traverse online and physical learning spaces. This rapid immersion into the pedagogical principles and practices of online teaching and learning was jarring, to say the least, presenting ample opportunities and undeniable challenges. With this shift, we’ve used new technologies, engaged with new practices, and learned new skills for educating in the virtual environment. Through this, our collective vocabulary and mindset surrounding all things “online education” has expanded and become more convoluted.
While it can be challenging, we must learn from our experiences to provide effective educational opportunities. Moving forward, we need to untangle terminology and then recognize and remove any judgments associated with these terms or practices. With the clarity that only hindsight, time, and experience can offer, we hope to decipher some verbiage and debunk some lingering assumptions related to online and blended instructional modalities.
Teaching remotely is not the same as teaching online.
As often as the terms “remote” and “online” get tossed around, it’s no wonder that they’ve started to feel the same. However, misconceptions stemming from the similarity of the terms and their misuse demonstrate and reiterate the need for clarification. Put as bluntly as possible, “Emergency Remote Instruction Is Not Quality Online Learning“ (Members of the National Council for Online Education, 2022). This has been an important and recurring message since before the pandemic and one that will likely continue (Hodges et al., 2020). Members of the National Council for Online Education (2022) offer a helpful comparison:
Quite simply, the difference between the two lies in planning and preparation: Remote learning is an emergency measure used to assure continuity of learning. It involves taking a course that was designed for the face-to-face classroom and moving it quickly into a distance learning modality…
…Online learning is a planned experience over weeks or months where the course has purposefully been designed for the online environment. The accompanying technology and tools have been carefully selected for the educational objectives. (para. 3)
Put another way: successful online teaching and learning requires time, planning, and nuanced skill with tools that overlap with and extend from those needed to succeed in the typical face-to-face “classroom” space. Tools and skills specific for the online learning space that instructors with predominantly face-to-face teaching experience wouldn’t have needed to know about (let alone utilize) before the pandemic. The forced conversion to remote learning during Spring 2020 eliminated the opportunity for planning or preparation and no time for training or practice with online teaching tools. The results weren’t surprising; many unexpecting, overextended students and instructors found themselves struggling to teach and learn in the online environment.
It is important to emphasize that this reality (our less-than-optimal experiences during and since the “pandemic pivot”) neither assumes nor implies anything negative about students, instructors, or instructional modality. Even outside a global pandemic, no situation, context, circumstance, or learning strategy is a “one size fits all”. When we quickly moved from teaching in one format (where we had a lot of experience) to another, less familiar format, we immediately recognized things we didn’t like. In turn, we resisted the struggles and potential for “failure” that, as humans, we often experience when outside our comfort zone. Again, this doesn’t make the modality itself, nor the stakeholders, inherently flawed., it simply means our experiences and skillsets may not have adequately prepared us for that change at that particular time. All this, even independent of the additional environmental, circumstantial, and emotional stressors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was a recipe for frustration.
Faculty [during their initial transition from in-person to remote] might feel like instructional MacGyvers, having to improvise quick solutions in less-than-ideal circumstances. No matter how clever a solution might be—and some very clever solutions are emerging—many instructors will understandably find this process stressful (Hodges et al., 2020).
Two years later, it is time to acknowledge these frustrations and leave our initial experiential perceptions of online (and blended modalities) behind us. Taking these frustrations into our future classes will only interfere with our mission as educators. Along with acknowledging these stressful experiences, Hodges (2020) also predicts the long-term detriment of our continued pandemic influenced perceptions of online instruction:
Online learning carries a stigma of being lower quality than face-to-face learning, despite research showing otherwise. These hurried moves online by so many institutions at once could seal the perception of online learning as a weak option when in truth, nobody making the transition to online teaching under these circumstances will truly be designing to take full advantage of the affordances and possibilities of the online format (Hodges et al., 2020).
Forward is the best direction.
Separating our pandemic-influenced experiences from effective online instruction, we encourage you to consider the opportunities you’ve encountered and move forward. The benefits that accompany new(er) online learning practices, technologies, and platforms are clear: from the diverse flexibility that virtual learning experiences can provide to offering more accessible, affordable options for our students and more (Fitzgerald, 2022; Josep, 2022).
No matter how much we want things to go back the way they were, that is very unlikely. Our students are different, and so are we. Recent instructional (and other) experiences have shaped the tools we use and even our disciplines. The Internet and related technologies are here to stay, as are the learning opportunities they make possible (Josep, 2022). We must mourn the losses that accompany such change but keep our efforts facing forward. We should recognize the opportunities where we can find them and use what we’ve learned these past two years to enhance our practice for both our students and for ourselves.
Now, many educators are reassessing how virtual learning can further enhance the student experience by offering greater flexibility than in-class options, particularly for hybrid and all-virtual instruction models…[Now] colleges and universities have the opportunity to move beyond these makeshift models…[and] meet the needs of a range of learners who must access coursework at different times and in different formats to suit their particular goals and lifestyles. (Fitzgerald, 2022)
The long-term effects of the 2020 transition to remote learning on higher education are just getting started. Outcomes of a 2021 Quality Matters & Eduventures Survey offer a bit more insight:
Exposure of faculty and students across the entire spectrum of U.S. higher education to online tools and techniques during the pandemic is causing a positive reassessment of online learning…
…A more complete integration of in-person and online modes of college learning coupled with accelerated growth is likely to occur in the years immediately ahead (Garrett et al., 2021; Slaby & Hall, 2021).
As current projections anticipate approximately 110% growth of the online learning market between 2021 and 2026, the field of higher education faces an instructional crossroads (Global E-learning Market, 2021). As dedicated instructors at the front line of this revolution, we must not ignore this trend. We have a front-row seat and a unique opportunity to explore the new terrain driving higher education’s future and use our knowledge and expertise to inform (and perhaps even guide) the change. If we choose to embrace the new affordances that online learning and associated strategies offer, we can build more inclusive, accessible, and relevant learning experiences for our students.
Moving forward (from this academic year to the next), look at the opportunities that virtual instructional technologies and strategies can afford you and your students. Identify the helpful strategies and positive experiences you’ve had, take them with you to build on, and leave the rest behind.
Still, feeling unsure about new(er) teaching and learning strategies? Ramey (2021) offers “pandemic teaching strategies” worth hanging onto in post-pandemic practice. (Pro tip: these strategies work well in face-to-face classes too.):
- digital surveying of students before the course begins,
- “setting the scene” by creating a transition between where everyone’s mind was before class and at the outset of learning,
- online collaborative work through Office 365 or similar tools, and
- allowing self-assessment for class participation credit
For more ideas, check out these articles:
- The Transformation of Higher Education After the COVID Disruption: Emerging Challenges in an Online Learning Scenario
- Remote versus Online Instruction
Still have questions? Email us to schedule a consultation or consider enrolling in the Multi-Modal Teaching Methods Certification (MTMC). Built entirely into Blackboard, the MTMC is a self-paced resource and training opportunity designed to support CMU instructors to engage with, learn, and develop the instructional skills needed to navigate effective teaching in multiple modalities.
References:
Fitzgerald, M. (2022, February 15). How Online Learning Is Reshaping Higher Education. U.S. News. https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2022-02-15/how-online-learning-is-reshaping-higher-education
Garrett, R., Simunich, B., Legon, R., & Fredericksen, E. E. (2021). CHLOE 6: Online Learning Leaders Adapt for a Post-Pandemic World, The Changing Landscape of Online Education, 2021. Quality Matters and Eduventures® Research. https://www.qualitymatters.org/qa-resources/resource-center/articles-resources/CHLOE-project
Global E-learning Market. (2021). Global E-learning Market – Outlook and Forecast 2021-2026. https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5327504/global-e-learning-market-outlook-and-forecast#rvp-1
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020, March 27). The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning. Educause. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning
Josep, G. (2022, January 17). 5 Reasons Why Online Learning is the Future of Education in 2022. Educations.com. https://www.educations.com/articles-and-advice/5-reasons-online-learning-is-future-of-education-17146
Members of the National Council for Online Education. (2022, February 3). Emergency Remote Instruction Is Not Quality Online Learning. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/02/03/remote-instruction-and-online-learning-arent-same-thing-opinion
Ramey, J. B. (2021). 4 Pandemic Teaching Strategies to Keep. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/07/21/classroom-strategies-keep-after-pandemic-ends-opinion
Slaby, E., & Hall, G. (2021, June 8). Quality Matters™ and Eduventures® Research Survey Finds Online Learning Gaining in Credibility and Respect, Setting the Stage for Future Growth: CHLOE 6 Survey Highlights Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education, Plans to Further Integrate Online Learning to Meet Student Needs. CISION PRWeb. https://www.prweb.com/releases/quality_matters_and_eduventures_research_survey_finds_online_learning_gaining_in_credibility_and_respect_setting_the_stage_for_future_growth/prweb17991149.htm
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